EU

Western relations with Russia have improved since nose-diving after the 2008 war with Georgia, but they face new challenges with the return to the presidency next year of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is often critical of the West. A new strategy is required to achieve attainable and important interests while not jeopardizing key principles. READ MORE

«Recently in the EU they have claimed that we can do more with less money. This sounds nice from poetic point of view. From political - maybe, also nice. But it doesn’t seem nice to those who should do that”, - states former Ambassador to NATO, and now – Advisor of the Prime Minister on the issues of defense and security Linas Linkevičius. READ MORE

Former President Viktor Yushchenko warned that the European Union's reluctance to offer a clear path to membership puts Ukraine at risk of falling into Russia's orbit and style of governance. READ MORE

The response to an attempt by a Chinese businessman to open a leisure resort in Iceland suggests growing suspicion among European experts and a potential backlash that could stifle the relationship. READ MORE

Between 29 and 30 September Poland will host the second summit of Eastern Partnership, which will bring together leaders of 27 EU member states and of EU Eastern neighbors, European Council President, European Commission President, European Parliament President, EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, representatives of civil society and business environment. Plenary session will conclude with the adoption of a Joint Declaration. Also, within the summit there will be a conference on civil society, which will be held in Warsaw, as well as the first Business Forum of Eastern Partnership, which will be held in Sopot. Two years after the launch of Eastern Partnership, these events represent an opportunity for rethinking European Union commitments in eastern neighborhood, in terms of efficiency of this new European project and reformulation of clearer European perspectives for the states included in the partnership. READ MORE

The meeting of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Hannover on 19 July was an important event for further development of the Nord Stream pipeline project and first of all concerning Russia’s proposal to consider the construction of the third line on the Nord Stream pipeline. However, Angela Merkel said that Germany would not need “a third, fourth or fifth branches of Gazprom’s pipeline”, and it became clear that she didn’t support Moscow’s ambitions to expand the Nord Stream. Moreover, according to Merkel, Gazprom should reduce gas price in order to attract European consumers. READ MORE

President Gül and his German counterpart, Wulff, met on Sunday evening to converse over tea with Turkish residents of Kreuzberg, a district known as Berlin's Turkish Town. Europeans should first of all let Turkey finish its European Union membership process successfully, instead of holding debates over whether Turkey should become a full member or not, Turkey's President Abdullah Gül said on Monday in Berlin, while ruling out formulas such as a “privileged partnership” as an alternative to full membership. READ MORE

Hopes are rising once more that the moribund six-party talks will resume and that negotiations will eventually produce an agreement whereby North Korea abandons its nuclear program. The latest cause for optimism came when North Korean leader Kim Jong-il called for a moratorium on the building or testing of nuclear weapons during his summit meeting with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. Hopes increased further when Kim repeated that proposal during his state visit to China a few days later, and added that his government was prepared to return to the six-party talks “without precondition.” READ MORE

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Moscow regrets the EU's decision on Monday to open talks with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan aimed at agreeing shipment of Turkmen natural gas across the Caspian Sea to Europe. READ MORE